Driver breaks and driving-time limits

Routing24 schedules mandatory driver breaks as part of the route. The optimizer places each break at a position that satisfies the rule. The break appears as a step in the route. A rule the optimizer cannot satisfy becomes a problem row on the route.

This tutorial plan runs two regional couriers under different rules, a driving-trigger rule on one and a fixed lunch window on the other:

Choose a break rule

Open a vehicle on the Fleet page and expand the Breaks section. Pick one of:

• None. The vehicle takes no breaks (the default).
• EU driving rules (EC 561/2006). The rule requires a break of at least 45 minutes before the driver exceeds 4.5 hours of accumulated driving. The break may be split into a 15-minute part followed by a 30-minute part. Time at stops counts as work, not rest, so it never resets the driving clock. The rule repeats. After a full break, another 4.5-hour block begins.
• US Hours of Service (FMCSA). The rule requires a 30-minute interruption after 8 cumulative hours of driving. Any non-driving time counts toward that interruption. A stop with 30 or more minutes of service satisfies the rule by itself, so a route with long stops may need no additional break time.
• Custom. Define your own rule: the maximum driving time, the break length, an optional two-part split, and whether service time counts toward the break (US-style).

Custom also allows up to two fixed breaks, set under Fixed break 1 window and Fixed break 2 window. A fixed break is a clock-window pause such as lunch between 11:30 and 13:30 for 30 minutes. It must start inside its window.

The tutorial plan uses two of these four settings. Courier A runs under EU driving rules with a weekly budget, described in the next section. Courier B runs under Custom with one fixed break, a 30-minute lunch starting between 11:30 and 13:30. Both couriers start at the Warehouse depot in Berlin and serve Brandenburg towns around the city, Courier A on the eastern round and Courier B on the western round.

Press Optimize and open the two routes. Courier A accumulates more than 4.5 hours of driving, so the optimizer inserts the 45-minute break before the driver crosses the trigger. Courier B has no driving-trigger rule, so its only pause is the lunch, which appears as its own step in the route.

To apply one configuration fleet-wide, import it from Excel and set the break columns on every vehicle row.

Driving-hours budget

Weekly and multi-day driving limits span more than one plan, so Routing24 takes them as input. Each vehicle has two fields under Driving time budget:

• Period limit (h). The driving hours the period allows, either 56 hours per week under EU rules or your own contract limit.
• Already driven (h). The hours this driver has used in the current period, tracked outside Routing24, for example from the tachograph.

The optimizer then caps the route's total driving at the remaining hours. The Already driven value is per driver. Routing24 never copies it to other vehicles. The tutorial's Courier A has a 56-hour weekly limit with 49 hours already driven, so its route may add at most 7 hours of driving.

Where you see the breaks

• The route card shows each break as its own step, with its start time and length. The vehicle takes each break at the previous stop's location.
• The driver's mobile view (shared route link) shows break steps too. See The driver's route view.
• The Excel routing plan export marks break rows with Break in the Type column.
• When a rule cannot be satisfied, the route shows a problem row naming the violation. A single drive longer than the driving trigger shows "Violates the driver-break rules", because a drive between two stops offers nowhere to place the break. When no permitted stop can host the break, the optimizer places it at a restricted stop. The route then shows "Break taken at a stop where breaks are not allowed".

Breaks and ride limits

Breaks combine with Max time in vehicle on both kinds of order. On a pickup & delivery transfer the limit covers the ride from the pickup to the delivery. On a plain order it covers the stretch from the trip's depot departure to the start of service. The optimizer avoids placing a break inside either stretch wherever it can. It places one there only when the alternatives would make a stop late, or when every stop outside it forbids breaks. A break taken inside it counts toward the limit, like driving or waiting.

On a transfer that time counts against Max ride overtime where one is set, and beyond that allowance the limit is hard. A plain order has no such allowance. An order that cannot meet its limit around the mandated breaks goes unassigned with the "Max time in vehicle" reason.

Barring breaks at a stop

Some locations do not permit stationary vehicles. In the order editor, check Restrict at this stop under Driver breaks, and the optimizer schedules no break at that location. The depot editor has the same control. The tutorial plan restricts the order named Loading dock, so neither courier may take a break there.

Spreadsheet columns

The Vehicles sheet has Break rule (EU, US, or Custom), Break max driving, h, Break duration, Break split (15+30), and Break service counts. The two fixed breaks take three columns each: Fixed break from, Fixed break to, and Fixed break duration for the first, then Fixed break 2 from, Fixed break 2 to, and Fixed break 2 duration for the second. The driving budget uses Driving limit, h and Hours driven. EU and US ignore the detail columns. The Orders and Depots sheets have No break, set to Yes to bar breaks at that stop.

Every exported workbook includes a Documentation sheet describing each column with examples.

Next step

Breaks extend route duration, which affects cost. See Vehicle costs and the COST metric.